"Sigh, I didn't expect that even the Adeptus Mechanicus couldn't build a ringworld around a star!" Mai Mai complained to Twilight after returning to her spaceship.
"You should have known that was impossible, right? Although the technology in the Warhammer World is indeed very advanced, it hasn't reached the 'more megastructures' level of Stellaris. Otherwise, why build a ringworld? Wouldn't it be better to repair the galactic core Birch World?" Twilight naturally understood why Mai Mai asked this question, so she also joined in the complaining: "But seriously, the Imperium should have such technology, right?
I remember that before the Old Night, humanity once built a flat, four-sided world specifically as a signing location for a peace treaty with the Eldar?"
"Humans do have such technology, but the Imperium... I'm not sure if the Imperium does." Mai Mai just wanted to take a gamble, what if the Adeptus Mechanicus had some amazing technology?
As for why humanity and the Imperium were spoken of separately, it was because of the collapse of human civilization during the Old Night era.
At that time, human civilization, which had once spread throughout the galaxy, fell into decline due to Subspace Storms blocking transportation. One by one, once powerful colonies rapidly deteriorated, with some even regressing to a barbaric age!
Worlds that managed to retain some level of technology were not much better off. Due to the influence of the Subspace Storms, the massive appearance of Psykers and Chaos cults on planets almost destroyed entire colonies, and the degree of degradation on some planets even exceeded imagination.
During the Great Crusade Era, the Emperor and his sons had seen too many such worlds.
Mortarion even originated from such a fallen world; his adoptive father was a depraved warlord who dabbled in psychic sorcery.
As for the technological barbarians and warlords before the Emperor unified Terra, the brutal methods they employed almost wiped out the newly founded Salamanders Legion.
And this was only part of humanity's technological legacy from that era.
(What nearly wiped out the Salamanders were just automated security robots.)
Coupled with the fact that the Emperor also buried a fragment of the Void Dragon, a Star God with the power of technology, on Mars, it stands to reason that humanity's technological level back then was sufficient to build a ringworld around a star.
It's just that, as of today, this ring is truly unaffordable for humanity to build.
"In that case, if we want to build a megastructure ringworld, do we have to go to the galactic core and rob those Squats?" Twilight recalled the Squats that GW dug out of the coffin, and asked curiously.
According to GW's new setting, the Squats are mining teams that humanity once sent to the galactic core to extract resources. These Squats are all clones specifically genetically modified, and they even possess complete and usable STCs.
"If we could raise an Expeditionary Force from the Great Crusade Era, it wouldn't be a big problem to go trouble the Squats in the galactic core, but now... let's wait until the Regent wakes up!" Mai Mai shook her head, dismissing this impractical idea from her mind.
Although he knew that if he told the Adeptus Mechanicus that those Squats possessed complete and usable STCs, they would launch an expedition to the galactic core like madmen, but this whole thing exuded an unreliable aura from beginning to end.
If it were during the Great Crusade Era, this might not be a big problem, and the Emperor wouldn't mind launching an expedition to the galactic core.
But the current Imperium... the most urgent task is to figure out how to deal with the opening of the Great Rift!
On the other side, Alex had completed his inspection of several planets and returned to the Rostov II, while his Black Ship had also returned from the Star Sector Capital and was docked at the Starport's berth.
Alex was very fond of this Black Ship; after all, he wouldn't mind if a few more free cruisers came his way.
And more importantly, this was an Inquisitor's benefit issued by the Inquisition! It would be foolish not to take it!
Alex was not the kind of Inquisitor who could raise a fleet and go out to fight people. Although he could requisition Imperial Navy fleets if necessary, he did not have a fleet under his command constantly at his beck and call.
However, as his work as governor progressed, a small fleet composed of cruisers would not be a problem for Alex in the future.
After all, he already had one Black Ship, one forge ship, and one strike cruiser, which was already a small fleet of a certain scale.
Not to mention that the Ecclesiarchy also sent an Executor-class, and later promised to send three newly built Moon-class ships.
Compared to how to acquire ships to form a fleet, Alex should rather consider how he could afford to maintain such a large fleet.
It should be known that fleet sailors are highly skilled personnel, not comparable to the illiterate grunts of the Astra Militarum.
Naturally, the Imperial Navy's welfare and treatment are far superior to those of the Astra Militarum.
Leaving aside the lowest deckhands, proper Imperial Navy personnel get to eat fresh, natural food!
As for salaries, they are even more than one notch higher than those of ordinary Astra Militarum soldiers.
Although so far, among the few ships Alex has, the forge ship and strike cruiser do not require salaries, and the Black Ship and Executor-class are maintained by the Inquisition and Ecclesiarchy respectively, this does not mean Alex does not need to spend money.
To maintain the operation of a fleet, crew salaries are just the smallest expense.
Fortunately, Alex now has a repair shipyard; otherwise, just the maintenance of the few ships he has would be enough to give him a headache.
But even so, he still has to find a way to pay for the large expenses of maintaining the fleet.
Most simply, every time a ship docks, just replenishing promethium fuel and water costs hundreds of thousands of throne gelts at once.
Fortunately, 'loyalty' has already started selling, and the financial situation of the Rostov II is relatively good; otherwise, Alex would really have to consider whether to go somewhere and launch a raid.
Currently, thanks to the Ecclesiarchy's unremitting investment, the production of sanctus wine has increased to forty thousand bottles per year.
After multiple rounds of discussions among the Sector's high-level officials, the Inquisition and the Ecclesiarchy finally settled on a distribution plan where the Inquisition takes ten thousand bottles per year, and the Ecclesiarchy takes fifteen thousand bottles.
The reason for this division is that the data Alex publicly announced was that 'loyalty' had an annual output of thirty-two thousand bottles, and he had to ensure he still had a certain share.
Both the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition knew that Alex had certainly concealed the actual output, but both parties remained silent on the matter, or rather, tacitly agreed that these were the profits Alex deserved.
After all, to date, both the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition have tried various methods to replicate the brewing process of sanctus wine, and they even sent spies to steal the grapevines and seedlings from the Rostov II.
They used the same method to have sisters cultivate and brew wine in other places, but the result was only very ordinary wine, without the special effects of sanctus wine.
Under such circumstances, everyone could only tacitly agree that Alex's location was the sole production site, allowing him to claim some profits for himself.
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